Films

Game Night (2018)
[#111 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 20-21
Remember the gag from Austin Powers about the home lives of henchmen? In Chapter 20, Horowitz does a serious version of that... and makes it work!

this week on 100 Films

Time for another jam-packed TV review on 100 Films in a Year...





Plus, 3 brand-new reviews this week...


Atomic Blonde (2017)

It’s based on The Coldest City, a graphic novel [that] I got the impression was a Le Carré-style thriller, so I was very surprised to eventually learn it was the basis for this film, the trailers for which promised a hyper-stylised actioner from the director of combat-focused John Wick. Watching the film, however, it’s easier to see how I might not’ve been wrong about the novel after all — take out the elaborate fight scenes and shoot it more like Tinker Tailor Solider Spy than The Guest, and this could indeed be a Le Carré-esque Cold War thriller.

Read more here.


Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018)

anyone expecting a straight-up adaptation may be disappointed, but taken as a film in its own right, for the most part it works. Having all the different familiar characters pop up makes it feel like a proper Batman tale, rather than a Ripper story that happens to have a costumed vigilante in it. Most prominent is Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, although she isn’t really the latter here — Batman gets fully suited up, but the most Miss Kyle gets is a whip. The relationship between Bruce Wayne and Selina is one of the film’s best aspects, in fact, with the Elseworld setting seeming to allow a different focus than the usual antagonism that pairing has in screen adaptations

Read more here.


Superman (1978)

Every member of the cast is excellent, though none more so than Christopher Reeve in the dual role of Clark Kent / Superman — he makes them feel like two different people, each equally believable. Richard Donner’s direction is first-rate, keeping our interest through a long storyline that could be slow but in fact never drags. There’s a pure heart here, a childlike sense of wonder and excitement that shines off the screen. Superman’s “boy scout” image could be a barrier in our modern, cynical world, coming across as twee and old-fashioned, but instead the film somehow makes it triumphant and magical.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Archer
5x07 Archer Vice: Smugglers' Blues
I appear to have accidentally skipped an episode. Oops. Must remember to go back to it (this one ends on a cliffhanger, so probably won't plug the gap straight away).

Westworld
2x04 The Riddle of the Sphinx

Films

The Pixar Story (2007)
[#110 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

After a busy fortnight (twelve new additions across the previous two weeks), the past seven days have been quieter... but still see three titles added to my collection (it was going to be quieter still, but one that isn't out until next week turned up early).

Those additions push the number of Blu-rays I own past 950. With seven-and-a-half months of the year left, based on my purchase rate so far this year (9.1 BDs per month) and last year (15.1 BDs per month), there's a very real chance I'll reach 1,000 Blu-rays before 2018 is over -- heck, probably several months before the end of the year. But, you never know -- I'm not aiming for it, just if it happens, it happens.

Number of titles in collection: 2,111 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,159 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 952 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 5,391 [up 4]
Number of films: 2,353 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 8,020 [no change]
Number of short films: 611 [up 2]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Films

Adventures of Zatoichi (1964)
[#108 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Coco 3D (2017)
[#109 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Films

Inferno 3D (1953)
[#107 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
+ the UK Blu-ray's extras, which are just a couple of trailers and a religion-focused interview with star Rhonda Fleming. The US disc gets a commentary and a 15-minute making-of, damn'em.

Mission: Impossible III (2006)
[3rd watch]
Rewatchathon 2018 #19. Apparently I'm watching this once every six years (could've sworn last time was my third watch, not second, but apparently not).

Films

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
[#106 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 16-19

Films

Deadpool (2016)
[2nd watch]
Sequel tomorrow! (Well, I haven't booked, so maybe that should be "hopefully". Not because I don't think I'll get a seat, just because I've got to get off my arse and out the door.)

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 13-15

Films

Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (2018)
[#105 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
+ the audio commentary, which was quite interesting, and the making-of featurette, which wasn't so great, to be honest.

Superman (Expanded Edition) (1978/2000)
[3rd or so watch]
RIP Margot Kidder

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 11-12

Films

Jigsaw (2017)
[#104 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Terminator 2: Judgement Day 3D (1991)
[#103 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]
I've seen the 16-minutes-longer Special Edition of T2 several times before (three, according to my guesstimated records), but I'm pretty sure I've never seen the original theatrical cut, and I've definitely never seen it in 3D, so it gets a new number.

Fiction

Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz
Chapters 6-10

this week on 100 Films

5 brand-new reviews were published to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...


Anon (2018)

Many a lazy review has described Anon as “like a Black Mirror episode”, which is not wholly inaccurate but is getting to be a stale descriptor — Charlie Brooker didn’t invent high-concept dystopian sci-fi about the dangers of future technology, so why wheel out the comparison every time anyone else dares venture into the same ballpark nowadays? Nonetheless, that is the ballpark Anon is playing in, but mixing speculative sci-fi with an equal dose of hardboiled noir to keep things spicy.

Read more here.


The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

The poster child for German Expressionist cinema, as well as featuring “cinema’s first true mad doctor” and “cinema’s first unreliable narrator” (at least according to David Cairns on the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray — I haven’t verified those statements for myself), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari certainly has a lot to unpack for a film that’s barely an hour-and-a-quarter long. Or does it? Because one has to wonder if there’s an element of style over substance here.

Read more here.


Drew: The Man Behind the Poster (2013)

If you don’t know the name Drew Struzan, there’s a fair chance you know his work: he’s the poster artist behind the likes of the Back to the Future trilogy, almost everything Indiana Jones related, many iconic Star Wars posters (including the primary art for the prequel trilogy), and so many more. Even when not painted by Drew himself, his style has been a major influence on blockbuster posters across the board, even in today’s era of Photoshopped collages. Nonetheless, you may wonder if the topic can really support a feature-length documentary. How much is there to say? Turns out, plenty.

Read more here.


The Hangover Parts II & III

The Hangover was a surprisingly big hit back in 2009 (was it really so long ago?), so naturally it spawned a sequel. That went down less well, mired in criticisms of just being a rehash of the original. I don’t know what people expected, really — The Hangover was sold on its high-concept setup, so naturally they repeat that for the sequel.
[...]
Clearly the people in charge of the Hangover series took on board criticism that Part II just rehashed Part I’s plot, because Part III takes the same characters and spins them off onto a wholly different narrative. There isn’t even a hangover involved. Unfortunately, that didn’t work either: based on ratings found across the web, it’s the least popular of the trilogy.

Read more here.


More next Sunday.

TV

Eurovision Song Contest: Lisbon 2018
Well, that was eventful. The UK entry deserved better, but what do we expect?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Graham Norton Show
23x06 (11/5/18 edition)
With Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin plugging Deadpool 2.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Hangover Part III (2013)
[#102 in 100 Films in a Year 2018]

Articles

32 Sassiest Graham Norton Comments During Eurovision 2018
by Scott Bryan (from BuzzFeed)

As ever, the best bit of Eurovision was Graham.